Virtual event hosted by the Washington Post. This is about 45 minutes. Everyone in virginia made sacrifices. Everything you have done has truly made a difference. We must figure out a path forward. But we must always be array aware that the virus is still with us. Good morning and welcome to Washington Post live. I am bob costa, a National Political reporter at the post. We continue our leadership in twong crisis series with governors who have been dealing with the coronavirus pandemic for days and weeks on end. We will begin with Ralph Northam and then we will hear from arkansass republican avenue, asa hutchinson. First, governor northam, we welcome him to Washington Post live. He is a medical doctor and he has recently announced plans to reopen virginias economy. Governor, welcome. Governor northam good morning to you and all your viewers, thank you so much for doing this. So important that all americans and in my case, virginians, have access to updated information so i appreciate the opportunity to be with you today. Mr. Costa thank you. Many of our readers live in virginia and they heard your News Conference where you are not parts of the state could walk announced some parts of the state could reopen before parts of Northern Virginia. Why are you supporting this idea of a phased reopening of your state . Governor northam we put in an order put an order in place following c. D. C. Guidelines, looking at criteria such as the number of new cases each day, the percent positive rates across virginia, in the Hospital Capacity and number of ventilators, the amount of ppe, ability to test and track individuals. Following those guidelines, virginia is doing well. There are some areas, to include Northern Virginia, where the numbers are not as good. While they are trending direction, the percent of positivity is down in the last few days, that they dont feel that they are ready to go into phase one which we plan to do on friday. I command the leaders in i commend the leaders in Northern Virginia who are also working with marylands governor and the mayor of washington, d. C. For doing the right it is all about the safety and wellbeing of virginians. I have had daily discussions with our leaders in Northern Virginia, i just released an executive order a few minutes ago that will allow november virginia, five counties up there to go into phase one in two weeks rather that on may 15. Bob how exactly will this work . Travelbob how exactly will this work . Virgini le in bob how exactly will this work . People in virginia can still travel from county to county and town to town. Governor northam certainly, that is a concern. Not just the case for virginia but also for maryland and also washington, d. C. We really try to work closely with those leaders. I reminded folks on monday that this virus is still out there. While we will remove or lift the stayathome order, that are transitioning into what we call a safer at home. Meaning if you dont need to be out or if you dont have something essential, especially if you are in the vulnerable population, you are safer at home. So we encourage individuals in Northern Virginia where we know that there are hotspots, to use discretion before they go out and go to other parts of the state in the country. Bob Northern Virginia is so vital to your states economy. How long will you let this exemption last to allow counties in Northern Virginia to keep businesses closed . Governor northam that is a great question. My answer is as long as it takes. This is about safety, about virginians, certainly in our case, feeling comfortable going into places of business. We have worked very closely with the businesses, Restaurant Owners across virginia. So as soon as those numbers start trending down, as soon as the number of hospitalizations and new cases in Northern Virginia are at a level where we are comfortable, then we will continue to not go into phase one for those particular areas. Bob when you speak of phase one, it is the governors plan to reopen in the coming weeks you have outlined many different got rules or guidelines. My question to you as governor, how do you enforce it, in terms of the capacity at restaurants and at charges . Churches . Who enforces it . Police . Who does it . Governor northam we have given local authorities and the police of the ability to enforce and we will continue to do that. I have encouraged virginians, and for the most part, they have done a great job. It is up to us really as a society. This should not be something we rely on people to enforce. Virginians need to take the responsibility and continue social, what we call physical distancing, washing hands, staying home unless it is absolutely essential. These are the things that have been able to flatten the curve and given us the opportunity to move into phase one. I encourage virginians to be vigilant and continue to practice the guidelines. If we do, i think virginians will be safe. Bob in phase one in your guidelines, you talked about allowing people back on the beaches to exercise. A lot of our readers are wondering when will Virginia Beach and others be open for all kinds of use this summer, if ever . Governor northam that is a great question. I am from the eastern shore, as you may know. We have beaches on both sides of the peninsula, obviously, Virginia Beach, hampton, norfolk have beautiful beaches. They are certainly important for our economy. We want people with the warm weather to be able to get back on the beaches, but we need to be it will to do it safely. So we are taking our time. We have a very comprehensive plan that we have worked with Virginia Beach and we will use that in other areas in virginia. Looking at social distancing, looking at being able to educate individuals on why this is important, and also how we enforce that. So, as soon as you know that is in place and it is safe to move forward, then we will allow people to go back to the beaches. Another point i would make, we are living in a new day. The times of going out onto the beach and being in large gatherings, we just cant do that anymore. As long as this virus is with us, again, we have got to be vigilant and to know that it is unfair. It has been so challenging for people. I think they understand it. We cant see it. We know that it is out there. We see people hospitalized, the people on the front lines working each day. We had 41 additional deaths in virginia today. It is out there, and virginians need to understand it and really, americans need to understand it. We are in a new day and we really have to be careful. As you know, bob, i am a physician, a child neurologist. I practiced medicine for 37 years. I have never seen a pathogen or virus that acts like this. As you know, it is called in novel virus. There are so many things we dont understand about it. We need to realize it is still out there. Until there is vaccination or it goes away by some other means, we all need to take it seriously. Bob when you say it is a new day, you have seen the protests and the criticism from conservatives in your state who say that you are moving too slow to reopen the economy. You have seen of the tweets from president trump, liberal virginia. Liberate virginia what is your message from critics who say you are crippling the states economy by moving too slow . Governor northam first of all, i have a message, a consistent message. Unfortunately, we have been receiving mixed messages from washington, and you just touched on one of them. On a thursday a few weeks ago, the president of the United States and i was in a meeting with him via videoconference, he reviewed the c. D. C. Guidelines, the 14 days of trending numbers going down before it would be going down before it would be safe to lift these restrictions. Two days later, two days later, he was talking about liberating virginia. He was encouraging protest. We have had several of them here in virginia. I will just say, from a messaging perspective, that is a significant mixed message. It is also a mixed message to say back in february that this virus would is appear like a miracle. Guess what. It didnt disappear. Now we have had over 8000 deaths in virginia. It is also imaged message to say everybody can get a test. Its a beautiful test. That is what came from our president s mouth. That is far from what is accurate. So i have stuck to a message, i have stuck to using data. As i said, i am a physician. I follow the data every day, i follow the c. D. C. Guidelines, and those are the guidelines we are using. It is not like throwing a switch. We are just lifting some restrictions moving forward, trying to open up some of our businesses but doing it in a safe and responsible way. I have the tools in place now with testing capabilities, with tracing and tracking, i have got adequate amounts of p. P. E. That if we see flareups ups or hotspots, we can block them out. If things get away from us and the numbers go in the wrong direction, we will put restrictions back in place. That is the way we will move forward. That has been my message from the beginning and it has been a consistent message. Bob what will entail having restrictions go back in place . What are you looking that if that needs to happen . Governor northam one of the main things was our Hospital Capacity. About a month ago, we were worried that we were going to overburden our health care systems, and we made lands for three alternative care sites in virginia, one in Northern Virginia, one in richmond, and one in hampton roads. Because we have been able to flatten the curve, we havent had to open those. So Hospital Capacity is certainly important. Looking at the number of ventilators, right now our Ventilator Capacity is about 20 , 21 , it fluctuates from daytoday. And again, having the p. P. E. , the ability to test, all of these are important. But certainly, the numbers. If we continue to have increasing numbers of new cases, if our Positivity Rate stops trending down and goes in the other direction. If the deaths in virginia every death is one too many. If those things start their happening, we will gather and talk to our team leaders across virginia and make those decisions as needed. Bob what are you doing, governor, to address the Racial Disparity in terms of cases and deaths . Governor northam but is a great question. This pandemic has really brought out the inequity that continues to exist not only in virginia, but in this country. Certainly, one of those is that inequity of access to health care. One of the things i am most proud of was to extend health care last year. 400,000 plus virginians have health care that did not have access to it before. So to make sure everybody in virginia, it doesnt matter the color of their skin or the country they come from has access to health care, but is that is very important to me, and also realizing the inequities. We have a Health Inequity commission i started here. We have an officer of diversity and inclusion, the first in the country to have that, dr. Underwood. So we are doing many things to address diversity here in virginia and i am proud of the progress we are making. Bob we have five minutes left. Lets consider this a lightning round of sorts. Will you release the names of Nursing Homes that have seen outbreaks in virginia . Governor northam bob, i get the message. I need to be a little shorter on my responses. Bob now, i know you are busy. Governor northam i will try to do that. In our code in virginia, there are laws that prevent releasing names of Nursing Homes. I have encouraged the Nursing Homes to be as transparent as they can. The public needs to know that, especially during this pandemic. We are also talking to legislators. The General Assembly will come back to richmond in august when we will reforecast and deal with our budget. I anticipate a piece of legislation being proposed that will make the release of information from our Nursing Homes more transparent. Bob would you fully support the legislation . Governor northam i will. Pieces of legislation make their way through the General Assembly and they get vetted, so sometimes it doesnt end up like it started, but that is part of the process, like he said, kind of like making sausage. But i support the concept of as much transparency as we can have. Bob congress is debating phase four legislation. I have heard it reported by the post that virginia has lost 3 billion in terms of cost and revenue. Is that the number you are looking for from the government, if not, what is the number you are looking for . Governor northam it is a combination. We need resources. I have a meeting each week with our congressional delegation and with our senators and congressmen and congresswomen. We need resources, but we also need flexibility. That is, how can states and it is not unique to virginia how can states put those resources to good use . So we have a message to our congressional leadership and we are hopeful they will be another relief package. If and when that happens, but they will give governors and states more flexibility. Governorsey will give and states more flexibility. Bob how much does virginia need . Governor northam as much as it can get right now, bob. You were correct when he said 3 billion, and that is a rough estimate. We have what we call a caboose budget that ends on june 30, then we go into our new budget. So one billion from this budget and then two billion from the upcoming budget. I know we are short on time one other thing, virginia was in a great position going into covid19. We were the best state in which to do business. Our Unemployment Rate was 2. 6 . We had over 1. 5 billion in our rainy day fund. We are very fiscally responsible. I encourage all of virginians that when we come out of covid19 and we get this crisis behind us, we will be back in a strong position. Bob virginia struggled on testing early on. What do you need from the government to help you improve Testing Capacity . Governor northam we are short of swabs. Believe it or not, that has been one of the limiting factors. Back on march 7 when we had our first case in virginia, we were sending tests to the c. D. C. In atlanta. Now that system has evolved. A couple of weeks ago we were testing 2000 a day. Yesterday we tested 8200. So our goal that i have said, and we are going to meet that goal is to get to 10,000. To your question on what we need, we need supplies. Bob do you have a date this summer on when you will make decisions on whether school comes back in the fall or not . Governor northam we will, bob. I talked to our teachers, principals and students. I have had several of these virtual classrooms with them. We have Great Colleges and universities here. It is my hope, and i am a glass is halffull person, that our students and College Students will be back in schools this fall. But again, we are dealing with in novel virus and whatever decision we make will be done with data, safety, and responsibility. Bob final question here, dr. Fauci is testifying before the senate this morning. You mentioned president trumps mixed messages. Do you believe dr. Fauci and other Health Officials are being listened to by the president in a sufficient way, and providing the country with enough information . Governor northam obviously, i am not privy to the communication every day, but i will say i really respect dr. Fauci. He talks about the science and the data, and he is a straight shooter. That is what we need people right now. What we need right now. People, not only in virginia, but in this country need the truth. That is what i am trying to do as governor of virginia and i know other governors are doing as well. We have been fighting a biological war with no supplies because there was no direction, from washington. It is not unique to virginia. But the governors have stepped up and become leaders. We are in charge of this pandemic. We have come into it and we will get our states out of it. Bob governor northam, thank you. We appreciate your time. Governor northam thank you so much for all you are doing. Bob thank you. In a moment, we will be joined by arkansass governor, asa hutchinson. Stay tuned. Governor hutchinson arkansas is critical not just in our foot but the nation and the worlds food chain, so the success and health of those workers in the Processing Plant is critical. Bob hello. Welcome back and welcome to Governor Asa Hutchinson of arkansas. Is he with us . Governor hutchinson i am with you. Bob glad to see it. We are trying our past. Ask for being here at Washington Post live. Governor hutchinson happy to join you, i look forward to the conversation. Bob you have been an official at the d. E. A. And homeland security, now governor of arkansas. You did not issue a stayathome order. How is that going in arkansas . Governor hutchinson it is going very well. I think we made the right decision. Every governor has to make a decision based upon the unique circumstances of their state, but, yes, i had enormous pressure from the National Media, that everybody had to shelter in place. I talked to our Public Health professionals and i soon realized that we would be adding to the unemployment roll hundreds of thousands of people, and we still wouldnt be making a significant difference in the number of cases and the spread. So we targeted we closed bars so we targeted our approach. We closed bars and restaurants, inservice dining. We closed some of the persontoperson businesses. We closed our schools. But we didnt close every establishment. We did put guidelines. We really emphasized social distancing. I set the example, wearing masks. The result is that now, all the National Pressure is, open up. So we have also resisted the pressure of doing it all at once. We have had a phasedin approach to reopening. The result is, and i think you can look at our statistics, we have done as well as anybody if not better. We worry about it every day, but our number of hospitalizations, which they projected to be in the thousands, is less than 100 right now. Whenever you look at the number of cases, we beat the projections. The number of deaths, we beat the projection. I think we have managed in the right way for arkansas. We are not taking it lightly, and we will continue to look at this seriously to see what we need to do. Bob so that is your conclusion, governor, but things are going that things are going well. But are your own Health Experts , in arkansas encouraging you to reconsider your decision . Governor hutchinson the short answer is no. Dr. Smith is an Infectious Disease expert. He is highly respected nationally. He is my Public Health advisor, my secretary of health, and of course, he has a team. I listen to them and we look at the data. He is fully supportive of the direction we are going. We are not divided on this point at all. Bob when you say the National Media or the National Dialogue were pressuring you, what were the pressures inside of arkansas . It is a conservative state, a state that doesnt have to have love to have regulation. Was that a factor as well . Governor hutchinson it goes both ways. There were those who said we have to shelter in place. So there was a lot of pressure internally in arkansas even in that regard. Part of it is because they listen to the National Dialogue and they see what is happening in new york. So you get that pressure. And, yes, you get the pressure now to open up more quickly. We, during both of those occasions, did not listen simply to public pressure, we tried to follow the data in arkansas and from Public Health experts and make our judgment. We didnt open everything up, we phased it in. May 11, we opened up some things, may 18, we will open up a little bit more. We are looking at summer camps down the road, but we are doing it very carefully. And as we do it piecebypiece, we are able to look at the data of whether there has been a jump or a spike, what is the reason for it. That is the approach we have taken. The public pressure, people do listen to what is happening nationally and they draw conclusions from it. That has been the most important thing i have done, is that every day i have met with the public and the media, i have answered questions. It is my 1 30 ddaily update that daily update that is broadcast across the state and people respond to it very well. Sometimes we may not have something perfectly and they live through this with us, but the transparency has helped give us credibility. Bob are people in your state not following guidelines or recommendations . Governor hutchinson it is a concern. We are doing better than some other states, actually. But, sure, people when they have beautiful weather in a place like arkansas, we have our state parks and national parks, beautiful trails and rivers. People like to get outside and sometimes they lose focus on the social distancing. Then when people have been cooped up, they want to get out and shop. Most of our employers have said set a very good example where they do the social distancing, the wearing of masks by their staff, but they also construct their store in a way that allows for social distancing. This last weekend, yes, i saw some example of stores in our state and elsewhere across the country where they did not follow the guidelines. They did not socially distance as they should have. I raised the profile on that. I made a few calls on it. We all have to be better there, because as you open up businesses, what is going to keep us from not regressing or having a resurgence is our adherence to these social distancing guidelines. Thats not best is my hope for the future until we get a vaccine. Bob arkansas is Still Critical for the nations supply chain of meat. Where is your challenge right now on the front . Governor hutchinson first of all, we are meeting those challenges. We have over 60 meat Processing Plants in arkansas from poultry to beef to catfish. Those Processing Plants are important for our national and International Food supply chain. Of those 60 Processing Plants in arkansas, none of them have been shut down because of covid19. That is a tribute to the hard work they are doing in screening employees and temperature checks, doing the social distancing. Then if you have a positive case, tracing it quickly and routing it out or isolating it, so it doesnt extend from that. So we have been fortunate. I think it is a tribute to the companies that understand what is at stake for their own business and also for the nations supply chain. So we have been blessed in that area. Our Public Health worked closely with them, but we have not had any outbreak in terms of our processing facilities. Bob what is chinas situation they are dealing with the pandemic what has china situation they are dealing with the pandemic meant for the economy in arkansas . So much meat from arkansas goes abroad as well. Governor hutchinson we produce more than we can consume, so those markets globally are very important to us for soybeans, rice, beef, poultry. Because of the strained trading relationship, that also because of the coronavirus there in but also because of the coronavirus there in china and the restrictions, it has slowed down those international exports. That has hurt. We have cattle in the field that we cant sell at the right price. Prices are down. But that is going to come back. It is going to come back very quickly. The supply chain is going to even out. So it has been a hit to our farmers but they are used to challenges, and they are working through it. Bob what do you need right now from the federal government and from congress . Governor hutchinson first of all, in terms of congress, what they have done in terms of supporting financially our Small Business people, the unemployed, really working to get cash back in the economy very quickly, that has helped a great deal. So i applaud congress for their actions on stimulating the economy and giving health financially to the families that getting help financially to the families that need it. In terms of the supply chain, our need has always been, in terms of testing, i heard a little bit of governor northam, and i, like him, we are making great progress there. At first we couldnt get the supplies, the swabs, we couldnt get the antigens needed for the testing equipment that we had. But the federal government said, when we need it, we could get it. They saw that we were not a hotspot so they shipped a lot to the other states. But in recent days, the supply chain has caught up. We have been pledged 90,000 test kits this month. We are starting to receive those, which will be more than sufficient to meet the goal of 2 of our population. That is the goal i set, 60,000 to be tested. We are marching toward that goal. That is reliant upon the supply chain that comes from the commercial sector, but it is also guided by the c. D. C. So you asked me what is working, it is that consistent supply chain, consistent supply chain. Because as you go into the fall, weve got to have that testing capability. We have got to have that consistent supply chain support in order to avoid a resurgence. Bob have had an outbreak at a state prison. How is that developing, and you see yourself may be encouraging maybe encouraging more prisoners to be released in the coming days and weeks . Governor hutchinson well, we did have an outbreak in a clemens maximumsecurity facility. These are not inmates that you can just say, you ought to go home. They have to be incarcerated. We really want the extra mile went the extra mile and tested over 1000 inmates. Many of them were negative. Most of them were not symptomatic. But we wanted to make sure we knew who was negative and who was positive and we separated those. We did make sure we had room in the facilities for the isolation and the separation that is necessary. The concern is also about the staff, because they go back in the community. We tested the staff and dealt with that issue. I think in that it is an system, that prison system, they are starting to recover, but we are on the guard at every moment, because you have multiple prison facilities in arkansas and we could have an outbreak at any time we could have an outbreak at any time. We are not alone outside allowing outside visitors, but staff continues to go in so. Testing and monitoring is very important. So far we havent had any further outbreaks. We also had another outbreak in a federal facility here in arkansas, which we dont have any control over, but we still have to account for those cases. That adds to our caseload, but they are being managed. We havent seen that impact of community spread. Bob clearly, prisons are an area of concern. What is your strategy moving ahead with prisons . If there are possible outbreaks or hotspots in arkansas . Governor hutchinson the first thing we did was released those who were sex offenders, who were not violent inmates, who were within six months of their release date. Parole plan,a good we started to work through and release some of those, i think over 300 of them have been released. What that does for us is frees up some of our prison space so that if there is an outbreak in an area, it is is your to isolate and separate. Secondly, our department of health has worked very carefully with our department of corrections to make sure that we have the right protocols healthwise in those facilities. Bob what you see in struggling communities, particularly among africanamericans in arkansas . What does the data tell you about how this pandemic is affecting them . Governor hutchinson it is a higher proportion than what is reflected in the population. They are disproportionately impacted by covid19. There are going to have to be a lot of studies done. As to why that is the case. Obviously, some of the underlying Adverse Health conditions that exist in the population does impact the outcomes as well. One of the things i hope we can do and we plan to do, is to use some of the cares act funding for specific research in addressing some of the Minority Health needs, particularly with covid19. One of the things we are doing this month with testing is using our Minority Health commission. Their mobile app. We are equipping it for Testing Capacity to go into minority facilities to do the testing necessary there. That will help give us good information for planning for the future as well. Bob what is your plan for this fall for schools, for High School Football in arkansas . Governor hutchinson lets open up, lets have school. That is the short answer. But our university, most of them have already announced that they intend to have classes as a normal year. As normal year. Next year. We are working on a Higher Education testing protocol so that we can have Quick Response Testing Available in our college environment. In terms of k12, we are planning on school as normal year, understanding that we are going to have the potential of a resurgence. We will not have a vaccine yet, but we have to be able to plan for those kinds of normal Life Activities with the understanding that we will have to respond quickly if we have a potential for resurgence of positive cases. So there could be ,hat we will start next year k12, there might be a positive case in a school and we close then youa week and restart. There will be some of that potentially next year that we intend to see. Right now, we have not made an s on team sports and decisions for team sports in the mid summer and through the fall. We hope to be able to do that later this month. Isdr. Anthony found she testifying right now before the senate. I know you have spoken to him at least once. What is your relationship with the white house and the task force as you plan for your state and its reopening. I have a close working relationship with the task force. Dr. Fauci, we talked to him on the phone with dr. Smith, my Public Health advisor. Doing. Ed at what we are dr. Birx, we have talked to as well. They have been important in and helpinformation with testing, in terms of the infrastructure we need in the future. We had a great worry about having the ventilators that we needed. Going out on the open market to buy those ventilators. The federalized government said if you need ventilators, we will get ventilators. It was just a good partnership. Future, we need to get the vaccine. We were dependent on them to accelerate that. Production act has been important. That has enhanced the testing availability that we have as well is given us the competence we will have ventilators. Bob just to finish up with the initial questions i am to think about the white house and the stopforce and 15 days to the spread, many states having stayathome orders. You believe that many governors did too much . They moved too fast to institute stayathome orders . Wouldnt secondguess any other governor. Look at new york and california. You have density population issues. You cant secondguess any governor, even though i know that after it is all over with, we will have a commission that will secondguess every decision of both governors and the white house. I look forward to that because that kind of review is important for us. All i can say is i am positive we made the right decision and it will allow us to restart our economy and reengage more quickly. Is going to companyte example of after company that have said thank you for not shutting us down. I am very pleased with what we have done. It is not over with yet. We are fighting every day for a resurgence. That is one thing we have got to today one a meeting Contact Tracing, which we have a good protocol in place. We have to elevate that even more as we go into the fall. That is the kind of effort that we will be doing in arkansas. One quick final followup. You say it is not over yet and there could be a resurgence, is a stayathome order on the table in arkansas for the future . Everything would be on the table if we get to where we have had a resurgence. I think based upon experience and based upon our infrastructure that we have now including Contact Tracing and testing that that would not be necessary. That would not be the right stuff to go. It would really have to be a to goircumstance in order to a shelterinplace in arkansas. The arkansastold people that there is going to be an uptick. There will be some type of bounced up in some of the statistics. We are going to deal with that. You have to understand it quickly. It could be in a school. We will go in and carefully deal with that. That way we can both keep our economy alive. Thank you very much for joining us i Washington Post live this morning. I enjoyed the conversation. I look forward to it at another time. Thank you all for joining us this morning. We have a great lineup for the rest of the week at Washington Post live. On wednesday, Rhode Islands governor and Mitchell Baker will talk about technology, Public Health, Contact Tracing. Colleague,e with my francis sellars. A great reported. Fedex,sday, the ceo of rex smith, will join Washington Post live. That will be with the editorial pages writer and editor, michael duffey. You know him well. He has done other events for Washington Post live. Go to Washington Post live. Com for a reminder. You can sign up for the livestream as we work from home and do our best in these tough times. For now, stay safe. I am bob costa. All the best. Announcer sunday night on q a. And discussese her broke book, the great pretender, testing the legitimacy of psychiatric hospitals. Because they had a wide influence on so much of what we contend with today, so much of the Mental Health crisis we see today was touched by this study and a lot of Public Opinions about psychiatry and institutions were in part shaped by this study. So i think that in questioning it, we have to go back and question some of our assumptions. Us anhope that this gives opportunity to go back and reassess in a way and move forward. If this study was not up to snuff, if it was not legitimate, we have to rethink some of the conclusions that it presented. Atday night on cspan 8 00 eastern on cspans q a. Announcer this weekend on book tv. Today at 7 20 p. M. Eastern time, in his book the splendid and the vile. Air crooks eric brooks